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Polar Plunge platform reported stolen

Special Olympics North Dakota says a platform used during its annual Polar Plunge fundraiser disappeared sometime over the weekend.

The organization's gaming director, Hal Jordet, said he noticed Monday that the wooden platform was missing from the parking lot of the Special Olympics office at 2616 S. 26th St. in Grand Forks.

The platform was sitting near a trash bin, so Jordet, thinking it was mistaken for garbage, called the city to see if the platform had been hauled away. When the city said trash collectors did not take the platform, Jordet called police and reported it stolen.

He said the platform had been sitting there since the Polar Plunge was held March 6 in the parking lot of the Canad Inns. The platform, which had a ladder and railings, was used to help people get out of the chilly pool they had jumped into.

Jordet said the platform measured 4-by-4-by-8 feet. "It would fit in the back end of a pickup, barely," he said.

Jordet's friend spent a few hours building the platform for this year's plunge, using $500 worth of materials donated by Simonson Lumber & Hardware. "That donation is history now," Jordet said.

The organization asks whoever took the platform to put it back where it was. Anyone with information about the platform's whereabouts can call police at (701) 787-8000.